The Pale Green Console and Set

[tony farrell]

Ultimately that's because this hexagonal arrangement wasn't made or, more accurately, the fluorescent tube housings weren't, the frames/screens were later utilised to separate the Control Room and Living Quarters.
Tony

[tony farrell]

Here (again by Marc) - purely to demonstrate the modular nature of Brachaki's design - is the canopy mounted on the six (unmade) columns of fluorescent tubes.



In all seriousness, I can't think of any other TV studio (or movie) set that was designed to give the production team so much flexibility and variety. Brachaki has been seriously under-rated. The man was a genius! 
Tony

[Mark]

can I see a sneaky peak of the whole of the studio set up being created in that last render Tony

[Rassilons Rod]

I haven't touched this one for a while, but you can have a look....

It's worth mentioning also that some of the textures are missing (they were never finished) but I reinstalled Maya at some stage and some of the free mia textures I downloaded are not reinstalled.

-Marc

[kert gantry]

Off-topic but one nice detail about the refilming of scenes from the Pilot for AST: the junkyard was placed in exactly the same place in relation to the TARDIS set as it was at Lime Grove.   

[Rassilons Rod]

As far as I knew, both the Pilot and the Remount were shot in the same studio at Lime Grove. There would be no need to change the plans for that.

[kert gantry]

Sorry, I didn't put that very clearly .

Yes, the studio plan was the same for the Pilot and the remount; when recreating scenes for An Adventure in Space and Time (in what I'd imagine was a roughly similar sized space to Lime Grove D) they put the junkyard and TARDIS sets in exactly the same places.   

[Rassilons Rod]

Ah right

Yes you did put AST but for some reason I understood that as An Unearthly Child... I guess I need to get used to AST as the abbreviation instead of AASIAT as I had previously been using. My bad

[Dalekoracle]

Marc, the render of the studio set up is superb! In addition to some more views when the model is complete, I would love to see a fly through or slow revolve of the overall space. Absolutely brilliant work.
Mark

[Rassilons Rod]

All in good time, my friend :-)

[galacticprobe]

I guess I need to get used to AST as the abbreviation instead of AASIAT as I had previously been using. My bad

Don't feel bad, Marc. You're not the only one that gets confused when people abbreviate like that, which is why I try to use full titles or distinctive key words from them. I mean, there have been times when I've seen discussions on vague, non-descript sources of costuming items seen in for "VoV"; (do they mean "Vengeance on Varos", or "Vampires of Venice"?). The same goes for "VotD"; (are we talking "Voyage of the Damned" or "Victory of the Daleks"?). And then we have "RotD"; which is it ("Resurrection of the Daleks", "Revelation of the Daleks", "Remembrance of the Daleks")? And let's not even throw in the early days when they titled every episode in a serial (which I believe ended with William Hartnell's 'The Gunfighters' - his next serial, "The Savages" starting the plain "Part"/"Episode" and the number; depending on who wrote the script it was one or the other, with the number being either "1" or "One" as well).

So you see, it's very easy to get confused when no characters are mentioned, only types of clothing (trousers, jackets, shirts, etc.). So, too, is it easy to get confused when there is inconsistency with using abbreviations, as you've mentioned. Well enough blithering from me on abbreviations. Please, (for the dunces, like me who get confused easily and don't need any outside help ) let's try to use key title words, or consistency in abbreviations when required, when referring to episode titles, whether they be for an actual episode, or a special one?

Dino.

[tony farrell]

Well, it's been a strange week both for me and for the world(s) of Doctor Who.

As well as losing my beautiful dog, I'm moving house which means everything is packed in boxes and so, I can't find anything! (As for e-mail, well, the Pony Express would be quicker!) More positively, I've seen the results of a long-awaited project of a friend of mine and fellow Tardis Builder. Up close and personal, the Mark1A Hybrid Console is a thing of beauty..... Come on Jonathan, post some photos!

We've also had a glut of photos from "An Adventure in Space and Time" (see what I did there, Dino  ) which have given us some great views of "The Bradley Box" (or what ever it'll become known as) and of the re-created Tardis interior.

To while-away sometime, I've also been doing some 'homework' and have been looking into the history of Perspex! It's been a bit of a trudge - like wading through treacle actually (not that I've ever done that, though I have sat in a bath of cold custard!). Anyway, here goes:

According to the British Plastics Federation, by the 1950s there were five main manufacturers of coloured acrylic (Perspex) sheeting principal amongst whom were Rohm and Haas. They classified coloured plastic by numbers whereby the first digit represents the colour and the subsequent numbers (and nowadays subsequent letters) represent the shade of that colour. This practice has become the industry's standard.

In trying to track down the colour of the plastic panels used in the Tardis' (lighting) columns we have to consider that the front panel is obviously very dark but it is still transparent (the ventilation slots and fluorescent tubes can clearly be seen). So, this Perspex panel cannot be black or no light would pass through it:

 

So, given the rest of the Tardis' interior was mainly TX40/Silvan green, we're looking for a transparent plastic in a colour likely to compliment the pale green set (i.e., even in sets designed for black and white television transmission, the colours chosen wouldn't be completely un-naturalistic or wildly clashing). So, not shades of red or yellow, but shades of green, blue and/or grey.

I've been in touch with the British Perspex Company - who have been trading for 75 years (www.perspex.co.uk) and these are their colour charts:



As can be seen, the greens begin with 6, the blues with 7, etc. The higher the number, the more recent that product is and the gaps in the number sequences either represent discontinued colour shades or are to allow for future shades. Hopefully that bit makes sense  .

So, we are looking for a transparent colour that begins with a 6, 7 or 9




Here, I need help and, this is a specific appeal to Rob49152. Rob, sir, if you're reading this and feel able to contribute, could you have a look in your plans for the columns to see if the colour of the Perspex is specified i.e., does it say Perspex number 750 (or similar) in any of the instructions or annotations to the plans?

Thanks to any and all who might like to chip in.

Tony

[markofrani]

Nice piece of research on the Perspex front, Tony!
I've been told that the plans state "756 blue perspex acrylyn sheet 1/8" thick". Presumably acrylyn is either acrylic spelt wrong or the name of this particular material. Hope this helps!

[tony farrell]

This is excellent news! (Rob, can you confirm maybe with another small 'snippet'? Hint, hint!  )

Looking at the colour chart above, this makes the lighting column tinted panels the equivalent of 7T22 or something very similar. "Acryline" is a German manufacturer of precision made plastics so, perhaps Acrylin was a trade (brand) name back in 1963 (a quick search of the 'interweb' today didn't turn up anything but, after 50 years, that doesn't mean anything).

Well, we do now seem to be very close to the original Tardis interior - both dimensions and colour-scheme; not bad when we consider that 12 months ago all we had were a few black and white photos! 

T

[rob49152]

Here is what the plans say under the construction:

----
Make 2 columns as detailed as above with solid base on casters.
Cover sides with perspex (see DES) & H/B
-The interior is to be used for lighting. Provide ventilation holes at sides.

note: the perpex panel at the back to be on the opposite side in the other col.
----

I assume DES is short for designer. In another area it says 8' x 4' perspex sheet. No. of perspex to be given later.

So I am sorry to say this doesn't help at all